DUST-LADEN, languid flowers droop and fade; The parched landscape trembles in the heat; But hark! a fluting thrush far in the shade Sends rest and coolness from his dark retreat. A tuneful life sings softly through its days, And to a restless world its peace imparts; Soothes fevered brows to sleep, and thirst allays, And brings sweet sympathy to broken hearts. There is a sadness in the chilly air; Dark branches stand against a leaden sky; A lonely bird takes flight for climes more fair; And in the wood a leaf falls silently. Beside the bed an anxious watcher stands; A yellow sunbeam steals in from the west; A weary soul flies forth for brighter lands; A ripened life falls gently to its rest. Their pride and glory gone, earth's leafy dead, Snow-buried, sleep 'neath winter fields of white, Save where a withered aster lifts its head To tell of warmer suns and days more bright. A sense of loneliness, a sweet regret, And then forgetfulness deep drifting on; But still some heart that never can forget Brings back the sunlight of a life that shone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EVERYONE KNOWS WHOM THE SAVED ENVY by JAMES GALVIN UNTITLED, 1968; FOR MARK ROTHKO by JAMES GALVIN THE FLAME LIGHTS UP by DAVID IGNATOW EVERYBODY KNOWS by DAVID IGNATOW BRER RABBIT, YOU'S DE CUTES' OF 'EM ALL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON MERELY STATEMENT by AMY LOWELL TWENTY-FOUR HOKKU ON A MODERN THEME by AMY LOWELL |